After the aftermath of Sorano's technique there was a brief moment of illumination even after it had resolved, such "afterlight" effect was not something that was common to many techniques. Also there were countless of lightning sparks crackling in the air, even the aftermath of the technique was violent enough. The retired Sannin was breathing heavily and clenching one of many wounds inflicted by her opponent with small drops of blood ticking down on the floor once in a while. As the afterlight cleared the result of her technique was apparent, then slowly the surrounding dimmed away into gloom. Loud grunts and whining could've been heard in the darkness.
"Your leg is quite messed up, perhaps it'd be for the best to grant us passage and let us go?" Sorano taunted the opponent whom she saw to be alive. "You've got to be kidding…" Tanshu thought, he noticed from sensei's stance that he used his "Demon Kick" technique charging his body with Lightning Release chakra and kicking transferring all of the force into this one kick, such kick was swift, silent and was strong enough to cut people in two, even more, the Lightning Release nature of the technique would've been enough to absorb the technique while sensei's other leg would've grounded it. And yet… Oni Mask's leg looked like a lump of coal, it was black and barely resembled a human appendage, just how powerful was this technique that this retired Sannin used? This strength was beginning to defy even the ninja limits, these Sannin were not superhuman, they were superninja.
Sorano grunted again as she spun her staff and pointed it to where Oni Mask last was when light illuminated the room, a powerful and unstable lightning bolt shot out, as the room was lit up it revealed Oni Mask standing right up to Sorano and having ducked right to the ground. "Demon Kenpo" he shouted thrusting his hand right to the woman's heart, as the body was penetrated it dissolved into pure lightning chakra and lit the room again revealing Oni Mask grunting and falling to his knees, "Lightning Clone!?" he shouted out in frustration. A loud thud echoed, then the thud repeated, then again, and again, and again, and again. The thuds started echoing around like a machinegun, it was tough for Tanshu to keep his ears open – the two were exchanging blows again in total darkness, using just perception and imagination of their opponent's position and predicting their movements with complete precision, as Sorano's staff grinded against the floor it shot out lightning sparks that briefly lit the room. It was a glorious dance of light and violence. It made Tanshu almost beg for another peek just to see these two amazing ninja clash again.
A flash of light lit the next exchange, the woman's palm was shooting straight at the mess that was Oni Mask's face, there it was – the opening. The arms of the assassin shot backwards like he was winding up to push the woman away, he then just shot them both forward at the same time. "Twin Demon Kenpo!" he grunted as another flesh tearing sound reached everyone's ears. Then it started sounding like someone was spilling a bucket of water on the floor, as the lightning lit everything up again it was revealed that one palm penetrated Sorano's gut, this was major, with so many injuries and her elderly body there was only that much that the woman could do, this battle was wrapping up. Sorano tried to use her chance to hit Oni Mask's exposed head but she couldn't, pain made her slower, exhaustion made her even slower. She shot all of her lightning out already from her staff, if she hadn't she'd have used staff's own abilities and not her own "Lightning Clone Jutsu" moments before to avoid death.
Once again loud clangs echoed through the room, again and again, Tanshu could not believe for how long these two were dancing together, for how long they could keep this race of mind, will and determination up, for how long they could both fight to the best of their abilities without slowing down. Sensei was being pushed, according to Tanshu's calculations he only had one last technique and no chance to use it – the All Speed. As the name suggests it is the entirety of sensei's potential speed and strength but… It couldn't just have been thrown out like that, especially not when sensei was this hurt, his eyes were flooding with blood coming from his forehead and his body was tired at this point of the fight, Tanshu had expected the jutsu to come in early to gain advantage but why was sensei keeping it for last? Having its drawbacks in mind…
A loud clang, louder than the thousands before interrupted the boy's thoughts as a powerful gust of wind made him cover his face. For the first time the room lit up not because of the lightning but because of the actual sparks from sensei's "Demon Kenpo" clashing with Raijin's staff. The woman's staff was first to attack, Oni Mask could not react in time and got a couple of blows, the woman aimed for the head – she knew that if she hit hard enough she'd break the man's skull at some point, if it wasn't broken yet… Oni Mask was flung around mercilessly as Sorano's staff hit him again and again, the man tried to block using just his arms but without chakra enhancements of "Demon Kenpo" he was unable to keep up with the staff's strength, it was simply flesh against ancient steel.
With a powerful swing hitting Oni Mask's cheek and lighting it up just for that extra strength and flare, sending most of his teeth to the floor, Sorano sent the man down. Her staff started crackling with lightning – she was charging up another attack! She probably had enough for a lethal thunderbolt strike which made Tanshu worried – sensei just kept twitching on his knees, was he down and out? Sorano pointed her staff right at his bleeding head, at this rate… Wait… What if he wasn't still affected by the blows, what if he was… For the last time Sorano's staff lit up with powerful impulses of electricity as a ball formed on the tip. The room lit up, so brightly that everyone had to cover their eyes. It was over, but the sight that greet everyone when they turned back surprised everyone.
The spot where Sorano aimed her lightning bolt was flaming, her lightning bolt had missed and hit the floor! Oni Mask was right below the woman, his legs were stretched out to the human limit as he ducked his frontal body to avoid the blast, his back was still smoking from the side burns of the bolt of electricity. Sorano's body twitched a couple of times – Oni Mask's arm was dug right through her chest. There it was, All Speed. Oni Mask channelled all of his remaining chakra into lightning impulses that enhanced his bodily reaction time and movements to superhuman levels. However using his All Speed required charge up time, appropriate to how exhausted the user's body was, also it fatigued the body and basically burned the muscles up. Tanshu understood what this meant, both short term and long term implications. Oni Mask straightened out as he held the old lady's body, gently placing it on the ground and closing her eyes with his soft stroke of hand.
"You BASTARD!" Howoku yelled out, at that same moment his body lit up, it was like chakra was simply leaking out of his pores, like some sort of white divine-like light was leaking from his body. The man charged forward, Tanshu could follow the man's movement but it was incredibly fast, just how could this wimp have pulled this off? Oni Mask obviously could not move in time, Tanshu had already predicted that using All Speed so late in the fight would pretty much kill his chances of movement afterwards. A sphere of light of the same nature shaped itself in the palm of Howoku's hand as his arm shot forward hitting Oni Mask's chest. "Starlight Sphere!" Howoku yelled out thrusting his hand forward and throwing his opponent back like a ragdoll as the sphere of light violently dissolved. Oni Mask yelled out loudly, flying backwards and hitting the wall, after Oni Mask's body hit the wall behind him it collapsed with the lifeless body flying right out. Light seeped through into the room, it was symbolic that as Oni Mask died so did the darkness in the room… Tanshu blinked and it was over – to think that the power of this wimp could break even Hana's seal, sure, it was weakened by the old lady's most powerful lightning bolt but the boy had to know.
"This light… This chakra, it's a Kekkei Genkai, correct? May I know what kind?" Tanshu asked looking at Howoku, the man's eyes changed, this was no longer the stare of a noble and kind soul, this was a stare of a bloodthirsty fighter. "This man was your sensei, correct? Don't you wish revenge for his death?" the man replied, his voice was rude and strong, no longer the gentle and soft tone he had when he came. Tanshu looked down, "To tell you the truth I think sensei wanted me to kill him at some point, just to finish his training. I did like him as a mentor but in this world people die, I've already lost any grip with reality, death of people dear to me no longer bring up any emotion. Neither this floor, nor the one above it is my floor to fight. Now answer my question, Star of Hope, Howoku!"
Howoku turned around and drew his blunt blade, slowly the man stroke his hand by the blade, normally it would've opened up a grievous wound but the blunt steel was made more for bashing than slashing. With a swift and precise movement of his hand Howoku threw the blunt sword like a spear aiming at Oni Mask's body lying outside on the black rough ground. Just mere moments before the sword went on its trajectory outside and impaled the body of his sensei Tanshu's wrist wrapped around its handle catching it in mid-air. "I no longer want that title or this blade that cannot take lives!" Howoku yelled out in rage, "I held myself back, restrained my Starlight Release and used a blunt blade, I believed that if I fought with peaceful intentions in heart that the world would change, that it'd pull its punches on me as well! Curse you, Red Dog Tanshu, go to Hell for catching this blade, from now on I live by a new ideal – evil people that threaten peace deserve absolute death, Iron Country samurai call it "Aku-Soku-Zan!" Tanshu threw the useless junk weapon to the side, this blunt sword that could not kill anyone did not deserve to be held by him.
"Starlight Release… Huh?" Tanshu spoke under his own nose as he boldly stepped forward walking up to Howoku who seemed to be going through a crisis of ideals. After the young ninja passed by the saddened Sannin he turned to the side, "There is no need to attack corpses, even for one who follows "Aku-Soku-Zan", I'm not nearly patient enough to check if sensei is dead or not, all I know that no one can live through a battle like this, even if Sorano-san had survived this battle she'd have collapsed not too long afterwards, sensei cannot be beaten one on one in this room and his purpose to God-Eyes is now fulfilled, I no longer care what happens to him and if you do you're just an angry child fixed on revenge. If you keep me waiting and standing here wasting time I'll kill all three of you, now let's move to the next floor." he said showing to Howoku the key. Hanasaku jumped up, "Wait, did you have all the keys this whole time!?" Tanshu kept on walking, he just waved his arm and carelessly replied "You did not bother to properly answer my question, I don't owe you the explanation of this situation as well."
As the boy started walking up the stairs he heard the Sannin catching up, Howoku then spoke. "Starlight Release is a Kekkei Genkai I awakened during my teenage years, I have no idea where it comes from or why I have it but I'm the only person in the world with it. It's a form of combination of Fire and Lightning Releases, it creates a plasma-like substance that is said to be as hot in its core as the surface of the Sun. I didn't like to use it because it usually either hurts people very badly or outright disintegrates them if I hit them head-on, such extraordinary power needs to be restrained, used carefully… Or so I thought, now I don't care about the lives of scum that threaten peace. Please tell me about the keys now, Tanshu." For a moment Tanshu just kept walking up the stairs contemplating on what Howoku just said, "Starlight Release", so that was the kind of ability that the Sannin used, superheated gas that can be used to absolutely decimate even Hana's seals. Even God-Eyes' most powerful Universal Push lacked the strength to do that, that was how this crater was formed this deep in the first place, the one God-Eyes made when fighting Tanshu wasn't even one tenth the strength of this one.
"Well, I guess now I can tell you the truth, now that you broke Hana's seal there is no use in this whole key thing, this key doesn't unlock anything, it's my key from my floor. You can just bust the door down, there are no longer any protections to this tower, you can even go as far as to break the rules and attack God-Eyes right now." After Tanshu finished talking Howoku nodded angrily, his cold and scary look started giving even Tanshu the creeps. And yet… A man who cared so deeply about his comrades, a man who was able to change his entire life worth of beliefs to better respect the memory of a dead comrade. The boy felt it inside – he wanted to be this man's comrade now, if he died while being Howoku's friend this man would avenge Tanshu and protect his katei for him even if someone powerful killed the young man… His life would finally have meaning.
"Nah, screw that, let's play by the rules. I'm really getting into this." Misu spoke as Tanshu's fist flew straight into the man's face sending him tumbling couple of steps backward. Apparently even the Sannin did not expect this blow as his face did not dissolve into vapour after getting hit. "You bastard, Sorano-san died! How can you just play by the scumbag's rules after he had Sorano-san killed! How can we return to the village having lost someone like Sorano-san! The village will never wipe away the tears!" the man was literally shaking as he yelled it out. Hanasaku's hand reached over Howoku's shoulder. "No, I believe what Misu said is what is best" for the first time in a while the young woman spoke in a very calm and assured tone, "Didn't you see it yet? These nukenin are able to kill us, they're just as strong as we are and when I clashed with Little Bro here I felt it – he'd kick me in the butt a couple of times and it'd definitely be tough to fight him. If we split up and fight everyone at once we won't be able to assist each other if needed assistance. What if you or Misu or me needs help and the others are fighting somewhere else? More people will die and you will blame yourself even more, Howoku-kun. Please stop and calm down, we'll play this how Little Bro wants."
Tanshu was truly annoyed by being called "Little Bro", who did this lady think she was? If memory served well the next in line would be Vashia… It was really hard for Tanshu to kick down the door, not because it was hard, the door itself was just a wooden construction and a simple shoulder push could've taken it out when the seal was broken. The hard part was the emotional part. Vashia was a nice girl, Tanshu knew it. She was silent, closed in and didn't wish harm upon anyone else. But if she was told to fight she would fight until the end because she was devoted to the cause, deep inside the Red Dog knew that she thought of them like a little family, just like he did. "Is something wrong, Little Bro?" Hanasaku laughed out and tried to stroke his hair, with a rough blow Tanshu pushed her hand away. "Shut up, I'm just thinking…" As the door fell out and the Red Dog started leading the three he noticed something wrong, this was not Vashia's floor, it couldn't have been. Hana and Vashia must've switched floors, it was most likely God-Eyes who ordered this – still, the purpose of this switch remained known only to him. In the manner of a true God he was unpredictable till the end. The walls were covered with some stupid graffiti-like paintings done with simple red and purple paint. The whole place was well lit and had multiple cushions thrown around randomly on the floor. As the boy opened the door he already knew the face that'd greet them inside. "This is Hana, she's the one that placed all those seals on the Tower. Please gang up on her and kill her quickly before she speaks." Tanshu facepalmed.
"Shut up you loser! Why didn't you help Oni Mask fight?! Maybe you sided with the Konoha trash then? Come on, I'll take you on too you twerp!" the lady broke out spitting filth. The young nukenin sighed in frustration and stood to a wall gesturing that it was now OK to challenge her. Hanasaku jumped forward and cracked her knuckles, "OK, my turn!" she shouted out but Howoku was already standing in front of the young woman. "HOWOKU-KUN!" she whined out comically but it appeared like the Sannin couldn't hear the voice of his companion anymore. He just pointed his fist at the young lady, "Your boss is threatening the peace and is responsible for the death of a retired Sannin, give your key up and I will let you live." His voice sounded husky and angry but Hana didn't get the clue. She just made a comic grimace and showed her tongue and her middle finger. "You'll get rabbit poop, ya loser!" the girl removed a small piece of bubble gum from her purse and put it into her mouth.
"She had bubble gum in her ninja tool pouch?" Hanasaku's mouth opened in shock, "Shit, how come I didn't think of that!? I can carry food in there!" Howoku's head sunk down and then lifted back up as the man fixed his glasses. "Then I shall remove you from the equation, as a threat to peace you must be destroyed!" the man shouted out, despite the fact that he looked calmed down after the death of his comrade he still acted like this new "Aku-Soku-Zan" version of the man he once was. Tanshu didn't complain, at least he'd use his Starlight Release and shut that annoying mouth of Hana's up. Meanwhile he could think of some way to prevent Vashia's death, maybe he could somehow lead them over her floor right to God-Eyes! No. That wouldn't work, the construction of the floor was pretty simplistic and it only had one pathway, from down to up. Maybe he could talk to the girl? No, Vashia had a strong sense of honor, she wouldn't budge even if the enemy is a Sannin. Stupid God-Eyes, he should've fought these people himself, now he's counting on his apostles to wear them out so that he can finish them himself. What a despicable guy!
Hana and Howoku leaped at each other, preparing for a clash. The fight on the second floor was about to begin!
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